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Summary of the impact

A research project, embedded in the local community, unearthed multiple
Iron Age treasures that
have rewritten our understanding of the Iron Age to Roman transition in
Britain. The discoveries
directly inspired the South East Leicestershire Treasure project (SELT),
which raised £934k
funding (including 651K from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF)) for a major
programme
encompassing museum redevelopment, travelling exhibitions and a suite of
learning resources.
SELT initiatives have been enjoyed by over 270,000 members of the
public, who through it have
gained fascinating insights into our distant past. The find has also
inspired a huge sense of
community pride in a Leicestershire village and underlined the value of
university involvement in
local archaeology. The project was another important factor in the recent
award of a Queen's
Anniversary Prize.

Underpinning research

The discovery by the voluntary Hallaton Fieldwork Group (HFWG) of an
open-air hilltop shrine with
multiple Iron Age coin hoards sparked a major collaborative research
project between the UoA and
the local community comprising survey, excavation and laboratory work. The
project provides a
case study of best-practice investigation techniques for hoard sites and
for the successful
integration of professional bodies and local communities in research
projects.

Demarcated by a polygonal ditch, its entrance guarded by ritually bound
dogs, the shrine was in
use around the time of the Roman invasion of Britain in the mid 1st
century AD. The finds included
350 Roman coins, >5,000 Iron Age coins (augmenting the regional corpus
by 150%) and a Roman
cavalry helmet and fragments of others with silver decoration of high
artistic quality. The nature of
the deposits suggests communal rituals orchestrated by local elites, with
broader social
participation through feasting on sacrificed pigs (evidenced by a mass of
bones by the entrance).
The first ritual site of this type in Europe to be comprehensively
investigated, Hallaton is of
international significance.

The primary significance of the research is threefold: (1) in providing
the most detailed insight yet
into the nature of ephemeral Iron Age open-air ritual sites, as well as a
plausible alternative
interpretation of many other sites with multiple hoards, long interpreted
as deposits buried for safe-keeping;
(2) in overturning the existing view of the Iron Age inhabitants of the
region as a unified
tribe — analysis of the coins shows that they were produced by multiple
groups, each issuing its
own coinage; and (3) by challenging the existing narrative for the Iron
Age to Roman transition
which had assumed that before AD 43, Roman political networks extended
only as far as south-east
England. However, multiple Roman helmets of the quality found at Hallaton
are difficult to
explain other than as diplomatic gifts. Negotiations with the imperial
authorities before or during the
conquest would help explain the choice of the nearby settlement at Ratae
(Leicester) as the capital
of the self-governing civitas of the Corieltavi within the
imperial province. The Institute for
Archaeologists declared Hallaton a key archaeological project of the early
21st century (E1 — E
numbers relate to evidence listed in section 5), a view endorsed by
reviews of the monograph
in leading journals (Publication 1 in Section 3).

HFWG's membership of the County's community archaeology scheme resulted
in rapid reporting
of their major discovery, and the very early involvement of the UoA served
to provide the field
expertise and specialist equipment needed to recover the hoards, and the
knowledge and skills to
fully realise the historical significance of the discoveries. All this was
achieved through involving
English Heritage (EH) which facilitated geophysical survey of the environs
and rescue excavation
of the site, with close involvement of HFWG members throughout. Many of
the finds, especially the
metal hoards, were lifted in earth blocks for laboratory excavation and
conservation at the British
Museum (BM). The Hallaton project offers a model for contextual analysis
of hoard sites, leading to
the UoA/British Museum AHRC Roman coin hoards project. Equally
importantly, it provided the
then relatively new Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) with a template for
integrating community
groups into statutory, professional and academic networks dealing with
other treasure finds.

From the outset, a key aim was full participation of the local community.
HFWG and Harborough
Museum continue to work with specialists from the UoA, the British Museum
(BM) and Goldsmiths
Company. Clay (Director University of Leicester Archaeological Services
(ULAS) 1995-) managed
the project, Score (ULAS 1999-) directed the fieldwork, Morgan
(Conservator 1974-2005) oversaw
lifting of the coins, and Taylor (Lecturer 1999-) led the landscape study
and edited the final report.
Haselgrove (Professor 2005-) was lead academic for the publication,
assisting Score in
researching and editing the text, with major contributions coming from
James (Professor, 2000-)
for the helmet; Cooper (ULAS 1996-), the other material culture; Browning
(ULAS 1996-) and
Thomas (Senior Lecturer 2003-), the faunal assemblage; Farley (PhD 2012),
coin metallurgy;
Hamilton (PhD 2011), scientific dating.

Reviews include Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society (`one of
the most exciting late Iron Age and
Romano-British finds of recent years') and Britannia (`This
well-illustrated and comprehensive
report will deservedly place Hallaton as fundamental to discussions of the
late Iron Age to Roman
transition').

Details of the impact

The project has shown how local communities can work together with
professional archaeologists,
universities, the public sector and national bodies to produce and promote
new understandings of
the past. It demonstrates that such public collaboration can have
far-reaching impacts, on the local
population and beyond. Recognition of the value of the project is
reflected in the £933,872
awarded to SELT as a consequence (HLF £650,600; The Art Fund £100,000;
Leicestershire
County Council (LCC) £90,200; Museum & Galleries Improvements Fund
£35,000; Museums
Libraries Archives Council/V&A Purchase Grant Fund £35,000;
Renaissance East Midlands
£15,000; The Headley Trust £5,000; Friends of Leicester and Leicestershire
Museums £1,000,
Leicestershire Museums Archaeological Fieldwork Group/HFWG £2,072). This
funded purchase
and conservation of the finds, development of displays at Harborough and
Hallaton Museums,
creation of two touring exhibitions and web resources, and the organising
of workshops for schools
and community groups plus open public events (E2).

REACH:

The research has had local and regional impact through:

enhancing public understanding of the cultural value of Heritage and
the Historic Environment,
through:

motivation and training of HFWG from `interest group' to
near-professional skill levels,
running their own annual survey and fieldwork programme, and offering
expertise e.g. in
geophysics to other groups (E3).

HFWG's example and support has encouraged foundation or revitalising
of other local
fieldwork groups now active in the region (e.g. Kibworth, the Welland
Valley and Melton
Mowbray) (E3).

economic benefits accruing to the local community through visitors to
Hallaton Museum —
2,649 between 3/5/2009-30/9/2011 (E4)

economic benefits to the regional community through visits to
Harborough Museum - 56,749
(to Sept 2012, the date of the last available LCC census)

Involvement of the BM and extensive media coverage has served to
enhance the value of UK
Heritage.

The project has helped to shape the way that major UK hoard sites are
treated, with large-scale
investigation of the kind undertaken at Hallaton now becoming standard,
e.g. for the
Staffordshire hoard.

Following investigations of the largest-ever hoard of late Roman coins
found in the UK at
Frome (Somerset), which suggested this might be a ritual deposit, the BM
approached the
UoA as their preferred partner in a successful bid to the AHRC for
funding to investigate why
and where third-century AD Roman coin hoards were buried in Britain
(AHRC Grant Ref:
AH/K000438/1, £645,600 awarded 06/02/2013)

HFWG members contributed evidence to the English Heritage survey on
illicit metal-detecting
(2009) currently informing national conservation policies (E6).

Alongside other projects in the current cycle our work at Hallaton
contributed to the award of a
Queen's Anniversary Prize, that explicitly recognised the public impact
generated (E7).

SIGNIFICANCE:

A key contribution has been publicising the benefits of engaging local
communities in the kind of
internationally important project that is normally the preserve of
professional and academic bodies.
It has revitalised the pride and interest of the local and regional
community in their heritage and its
preservation and protection, resulting in a project exhibition in Hallaton
Museum in 2009, funded by
the HLF (who highlighted the impressive nature of community involvement).
Designed by the local
community itself, the display won 'Best Exhibition' and also 'Best Museum'
at the Heritage Awards
for Leicestershire and Rutland (2009) (E7). The museum attracts
visitors to the village from some
distance who often stay to sample local amenities and look round the area,
bringing vital economic
benefits into the locality.

The BM combined forces with LCC to ensure that the internationally
important finds would stay in
the region rather than be taken to London. A major HLF grant (noted above)
was secured to
upgrade the Harborough Museum making the project its central exhibition.
In the first six months
after the opening of the updated Museum in 2009 visitor numbers rose by
100% with 10,000
people visiting the exhibition (E8). Frequent events based around
the project are held at the site,
run by UoA staff and HFWG. The presence of the treasure exhibition and the
increased visitor
figures have been instrumental in saving the Museum from threatened
closure through a campaign
and petition (January 2011 - 2,354 signatures) supported by TV historian
Michael Wood (E5).
Other local groups have also become involved, the `Market Harborough Movie
Makers' won a 4*
(Silver) award at the 2010 British International Amateur Film Festival
with their documentary `The
Hallaton Treasure' , now a permanent part of the Harborough Museum
displays (E9).

During the refurbishment of Harborough Museum as an integrated library,
adult learning facility and
permanent home for the Hallaton treasure (23/3-3/11/13), the material was
temporarily displayed
at LCC's flagship Snibston Discovery Museum (13,918 visitors 23/3-31/7).
Here it was central to a
major exhibition, `Treasure! Shedding Light on Leicestershire's Past',
showcasing the project to
new audiences: Snibston has over 100K visitors annually, from
Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire,
Derbyshire, Leicestershire and beyond. Hallaton also featured in LCC's
contribution to the national
Festival of British Archaeology (13 - 28 July, 2013).

Although to deter clandestine looting the project was initially kept
quiet, since the press release in
2003 events and displays have been undertaken to involve the wider
community and encourage
other local historical and archaeological groups. This includes several
displays in the village for the
community with talks by experts; 100+ talks by the UoA; 40+ talks by the
HFWG; `hands on' talks
to local schools; displays for National Archaeology Week; involvement in
conferences including the
annual public Hallaton Treasure conference. A total of 270,680
people have attended South-East
Leicestershire Treasure (SELT) projects from Sept 2009 up to the end of
the programme in Sept
2012 (Hallaton Museum until April 2011): Museum events (5,175 visitors)
Roadshow
events/conferences (7,262); After School groups (170); Off-site education
(704); `Consumed?'
(touring exhibition for Community Archaeology 67,062); On-site talks/tours
(787); Off-site
talks/tours (1,022); Researchers and enquiries (27); Website views of
slideshow (22,363);
Travelling exhibition (101,064); Goldsmith's Hall (4,553); General
Visitors to Harborough Museum
(56,749); Hallaton Museum (2,649); Training Courses (197). The project
also contributed to the
tourist economy, reflected in figures for Harborough Museum calculated
using the nationally
recognised Scarborough Tourism Economic Assessment Model (STEAM). From
£0.26m in 2009
the economic impact of tourist visitors had risen to £0.75m by 2012, with
the combined total for
2011-12 reaching £1.34m (E4).

The project has had a huge impact on the members of the HFWG. The
training and
encouragement given by the UoA has enabled them to expand knowledge of
their local heritage
and provide them with the skills and expert advice to continue their
research and provide an
example for other interested parties (E3). They in turn have
nurtured and mentored other local
groups in undertaking similar fieldwork (e.g. other local communities are
now researching the
archaeology of the middle Welland Valley, Leicestershire and are
participating in a new
collaborative project with the UoA on the archaeological landscapes south
of Melton Mowbray).
The HFWG have also been active outside the region, initiating an
expert-community collaboration
that has led to analysis and exhibition of a silver bowl from the site by
the Goldsmith's Company
London between 9/5/2011-15/7/2011 that attracted 4,553 visitors (E4
& E10).

Looking beyond the core region, the HLF grant has enabled the project to
develop `Consumed?' a
travelling community exhibition for which UoA staff provided the text.
`Consumed?' can be
borrowed for no charge by community groups/libraries and in 2010 appeared
at the following
libraries: Loughborough (3/2-5/3); Market Harborough (5/3-7/4); Melton
Mowbray (7/4-5/5); Oadby
(5/5-9/6); Wigston (9/6-7/7); Blaby (7/7-9/8). By the end of Aug 2012
`Consumed?' had been
viewed by 67,062 visitors. Finds from Hallaton formed part of the
BM's `Buried Treasure: Finding
our Past' exhibit (37,000 visitors), which went on a national tour
(4 venues, 180,000 visitors). Part
of the Harborough Museums display includes a travelling exhibition,
featuring many of the
individuals involved, which embarked upon a 5-year tour beginning in
Leicestershire before going
national. When the SELT programme ended this had attracted 101,064
visitors at 13 venues
including Ashby (544 children /1,088 adults, Nottingham (2,831/5,661),
Kettering (1,120/2,240) &
Lincoln (3,525/8,613) (E4).